Round cedarwood hot tub, pergola, decking & paving 09 pr

[masona]

That's not all summerhouse is it?

On the left and in the middle is 2 separate summerhouse and on the right is the workshop

I'd live in there no problem at all.

We're out there most evening with the TV and fire The central heating is on indoors and we're outside

I've probably got another week of work(max) before we would be in a position to order the tub from the states. I am also waiting for the dollar to weaked again as i didn't fancy the exchange rate last month. If it gets towards $1.75 to the £ i will buy.

My hot tub is from USA but Hotspring get it cheaper by buying in bulks

 

[pantsmachine]

quote]
My hot tub is from USA but Hotspring get it cheaper by buying in bulks[/quote]

I had a lok at the Hotspring site. A shame as that's not the tub style i am going for. I am going for something like this
http://www.rhtubs.com/images/hottubs/hottub22.htm

Going down this route seriously limits the number of suppliers especially trying to source in the UK. Never mind though, finding it at the right price is all part of the fun!

 

[masona]

I had a lok at the Hotspring site. A shame as that's not the tub style i am going for. I am going for something like this
http://www.rhtubs.com/images/hottubs/hottub22.htm[/QUOTE]
Nice one, make sure you are happy with the running cost as my hot tub is cheap to run, some of them are costly to run as some of them don't tell you the truth. Hotspring guaranteed their running costs otherwise you keep their hot tub for free ( I don't know if this offer still stand)

 

[pantsmachine]

Thanks Masona,
I am trying not to think too hard about running costs as if i did i would not do it! The tub holds a wee bit under 2000ltrs which is a heck of a lot of water. My plan is to run the tub on electricity but i am also fitting a wood fired chofu thermosiphon system and i am also toying with the idea of building and fitting a solar thermosiphon panel. I have really crucified myself on the heating options over the past couple of years and this combination seems to suit my situation. On the upside the red cedar is meant to be a good insulator and the tub cover i am buying will have a high R value.

The wood fired chofu costs around £750 and in the best DIY tradition i am thinking about building my own. SO far i have thought of a chiminea in the pergola area modified with a purpose bent copper tubing system to carry the hot water. The other option is to have a stailess steel firebox constructed to my own spec. We'll see, some sort of firebox is going in as i like the idea of the dark winter nights with the fire flickering while chilling in the tub.

I've been chainsawing trees again today but managed to fab and fit the roof beams and trellis over the weekend, well chuffed with the look, just waiting on the drawknife and coachbolts to final fix horizontal beams. I'll get the camera out tomorrow and post a couple of shots.

 

[masona]

Wow, let us know how you have got on, I'm assuming you will still have the electric heater for the hot tub so the electric heater cut out when needed if the wood fired chofu is on(?)

SO far i have thought of a chiminea in the pergola area modified with a purpose bent copper tubing system to carry the hot water

I have a cast iron chiminea in my summerhouse and it does burn wood very fast unless you use charcoal which will hold the heat a lot longer. The other problem you could see will the copper pipe cope with the heat (I don't know the temperature rating on the copper pipe), my cast iron grating plate on the bottom is already bent and buckle, I know the maximum temperature inside the cast iron casing which reached 380C I use the infra red laser temperature gun to get the reading

 

[pantsmachine]

Good information to have Masona especially the temp of the fire. I googled melting point of copper and its 1100 degC. I can't see me getting anywhere near that unless i accidently buy a kiln so i'm ok there, I am going to do a wee test build today just a coil or 2 of copper in my old chiminea fed from and returning to a bucket. This will give me a very very rough idea of temp rise over a volume and copper surface area. More importantly it will show thermosiphon working put my mind at rest and entertain you guys 'n' gals coz the cameras coming with me!

 

[pantsmachine]

A couple of shots of the frame progress. I am still waiting on the coachbolts and drawknife, hopefully tomorrow.

I had great fun with the thermosiphon test today, works really well. I'll post the shots later, off for a cuppa.

 

[pantsmachine]

My thermosiphon adventure today gave me the boost i need to go my own way on this and not buy a purpose built unit. I wanted to test a thermosiphon system so in best diy RAF tradition i did it today with a 2 mtr length of 15 mm copper a bucket and a chiminea!

Its based on hot water rises which as concepts go is like myself pretty simple eh? So we take 1 of 3 gallon bucket cold water add 2 mtr roughly coiled copper tubing to chiminea. Connect copper tubing to bottom of bucket, put return in top of bucket and its a nice wee loop. During the first 20 minutes the fire was building up heat and taking hold but after that it was impressive.

All temps are in degrees centigrade and the thermometer is reading off the bottom of the inside of the bucket..
11.10 1deg bottom temp
11.30 8 deg bottom temp
11.40 18 deg
1150 38 deg mixed water layers
11.55 46 deg
12.00 53 deg
12.05 60 deg
12.10 65 deg Fire is now embers only
12.15 69 deg
12.25 70 deg
12.45 70 deg test complete

This was a 3 gallon test with 2 mtr of 15mm copper with kink restrictions and being reduced down to 10mm copper at the white outflow pipe, so not the best test for something that relies on minimal restriction to the rising water. I did some calcs this evening and i will need to use 50Mtrs of 22mm copper to get a rise from 8 deg C to 42 deg C in 75 minutes on 1500 ltrs of water. The calcs are pretty rough(as was the test), but they have given me a good indicator that i can do it better than the supplier of the chofu. An example beng that their system carries 0.85Sqm of surface area exposed to the fire.Mine will have 3 Sqm. Anyway a few photos of the test.
copper pipe

Just started and 1 degC water temp

About 15 minutes into the burn i see first indication that i'm not mad

A close up of how little there is to the coil. There's not a single real log in there. Its just off cuts and chippings from the pergola build.

Honest, no kettles were used in the making of this picture

I really like this shot, somehow very Deliverance feel to it. My poor wife. She will get a real whirly back again one day!

I hope it has been entertaining.

 

[breezer]

pictures are too big. may i suggest you use the DIYnot album (more info is in "forum information") as this makes a thumbnail which enlarges when you click on it.

You can use the

button to change your post

overall it makes pictures easier to view

below is an example

View media item 6472

 

[pantsmachine]

You may indeed suggest and i thank you for the pointer.
I ordered my slabs yesterday from a company called MR International. Ordered 50Sqm which will do nicely and get half the area done. The other half will be decked. There is a link below if anyone is thinking about slabbing this year. Really pleasant Fella i was dealing with. Slabs should arrive tomorrow.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=300278260900

 

[masona]

You're not giving up yet I'm wondering if you can get the cylinder coil out of an old tank which have no kink in it unless you can buy them like that, the plumbers on here might have some more idea to suggest.

 

[pantsmachine]

Thanks Masona,

Not giving up, the RAF copper coil i used was purely to prove it would work. The real deal will be rising rectangle coil thing. Each 90 deg elbow will be a compression fitting. I estimate i need 26 rising layers which is 104 compression fittings(eek) plus piping in and out. I am looking for a suitable stove at the moment. Thinking 400mm wide 500mm deep and approx 750mm high with a removable top so i can fit the plumbing. I know its out there just got to find it. Worst case i'll see a blacksmith about building me one.

I spoke to a plumber today and he has a container full of used copper pipe from previous jobs. I will get the 50 linear mtrs from him 2nd hand.

 

[pantsmachine]

Made a bit of progress on the pergola. My drawknife and coachbolts arrived, this allowed me to finish the frame as far as i can at this time. Hope you can see the difference.

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• pantsmachine
• 21 Jan 2009
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• pantsmachine
• 21 Jan 2009
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I finished my chainsawing of trees(only taken me 5 months). I hired a great bit of kit called a stump grinder. I had not used one before, it took 12 of 20 year growth tree stumps down to 100mm below surface in 3 1/2 hours! That is a top bit of kit. Price was £45 per day from Travis perkins.The shot below shows the old boundary line between my original garden(right) and the newly purchased one(left).

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• pantsmachine
• 21 Jan 2009
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The slabs were delivered at the end of last week and i am happy with the quality. I had a quote to dig out, lay and compact base, full mortar bed for the slabs and point in between. The price is £1,750 plus £890 for the slabs is £2,640 for 50sqm. I am displaying the prices as it might help someone else further down the line as a quote reference.

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• pantsmachine
• 21 Jan 2009
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I also cleared the area and marked out where the patio will be laid. The before shots below, i hope the afters look way different! Machinery arrives Saturday morning and on we go!

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• pantsmachine
• 21 Jan 2009
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• pantsmachine
• 21 Jan 2009
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• pantsmachine
• 21 Jan 2009
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• 21 Jan 2009
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[Thermo]

3 1/2 hours, jesus they must have hired that out with blunt teeth!

 

[pantsmachine]

Really, i thought that was quite fast? How long should it take, The trees were beech and ash, max stump width of around 18" and 12 of them. Interested to know....